In 1958, the fledgling National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) had many someday goals like this one: "The expansion of human knowledge of phenomena in the atmosphere and space". It sounded like many of the goals my team and I hear when we consult small and large businesses: "Become world class..." or "Lead the industry..." Although the leaders at NASA had ways to measure this goal, they lacked the clarity of a defined finish line. They were missing an essential ingredient of execution. The also lacked the results that the Soviet Union was producing.

But in 1961, President John F. Kennedy shook NASA to its foundations when he made the pronouncement "Land a man on the moon and return him safely to the earth before the decade is out". Suddenly, NASA had a formidable new challenge, the war it would fight for the next ten years, and it stated it in exactly the way goals should be stated: From "X" to "Y" by "when". "X" was earthbound, "Y" was to the moon and back, and "when" was by December 31st, 1969.

Consider the 1961 goals and then consider your own:

• Are they clear and measurable?

• How many are there?

• s there a finish line for any of them?

In this article I will teach you how to translate your strategy from concepts to targets, from a vague strategic intent to a set of specific finish lines, something I explain in great detail in my book "You Know More Than You Think You Do".

When a person or a team moves from having a dozen, we-really-hope goals to one or two no-matter-what goals, the effect on morale is dramatic. It's as though a switch exists in every stakeholder's head called "Game-on!" If you can throw that switch, you have laid the foundation for extraordinary execution.

I believe that everyone wants to feel that they are winning and that they are contributing to something meaningful. Before we get into the nitty gritty of the skill of converting, we-really-hope goals into one or two no-matter-what goals, let us first dive into some statistics that show the importance of the idea of execution:

• Compared with their more passive counterparts, proactive people are better performers, contributors, and innovators.

• Personal initiative is important in the beginning of the creative process for idea creativity.

• he most successful entrepreneurs have up to 43% higher motivation to turn their ideas into action and focus on money than the rest of the working population.

• Studies find that an ability to make decisions quickly and to act upon them is one of the key determining factors differentiating successful people from the unsuccessful.

There is a difference between planning to do great work and doing it, and that is really the crux of a bias for execution. Here are a few steps to flex your execution muscle:

Take small steps

You can't wake up one day and decide to take action on every single decision in the next twenty-four hours. Instead, choose to take action, like NASA, on two or three high impact items, working on them in bite sizes. Work your way up to your finished goal by completing one task that feeds into the next task, until you are closer to the finish line and inevitably there. Remove the guess work and minimize hit or miss results by doing this systematically and methodically.

Become comfortable with risk

Execution means that sometimes you won't have all the answers and must take a risk. That is not a bad thing, if your decision is based on supporting evidence. Trust yourself.

Avoid distractions

Resist distracting opinions or consuming excess information. To get things done efficiently, stay focused on the task at hand.

Learn by doing

You will 'fail' when you are constantly taking action towards your goals. This is normal. Learn from your mistakes to pivot, adjust your approach, and try again.

As Rohit Mittal says in his article, "Why execution is important to be successful?", execution represents a disciplined process or a logical set of related activities that enable an individual or an organization to take a strategy and make it work. Without a careful, planned approach to execution, strategic goals cannot be attained. Without strategy, execution is aimless. Without execution, strategy is useless.

• Eliot Kelly is recognized as a serial entrepreneur, business coach and mentor and has been featured on CNN, BBC Three's Be Your Own Boss and an extensive list of magazines and articles. His five books have been translated in over seven languages and sold in twenty-nine countries, recently being shortlisted for Best Self-Help and Best Advice Books 2019 by The Author Academy. Contact him via his website at www.eliotkelly.co.uk, email at info@eliotkelly.co.uk and Twitter via @eliotkellyofficial.

• This year Eliot Kelly has been nominated for two MBCC Awards – Most Inspirational Person of The Year 2023 and Mentor of The Year 2023. Vote in both categories for Eliot Kelly here: https://mbccawards.com/vote-now/.

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